20 Puerto Rican Writers Receive Inaugural Letras Boricuas Fellowship
The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and the Flamboyan Foundation’s Arts Fund have announced the inaugural cohort of Letras Boricuas Fellows, made up of 20 Puerto Rican writers whose work spans fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction, and children’s literature. Fellows will received $25,000 grants, with the aim of "enriching and sustaining literary tradition in Puerto Rico and across the U.S. diaspora."
The 2021 Letras Boricuas fellows were selected by a committee of Puerto Rican writers, comprising Mayra Santos Febres, Aracelis Girmay, Eduardo Lalo, Willie Perdomo, Félix Joaquín Rivera, and Carina Del Valle Schorske.
The 2021 Letras Boricuas Fellows are:
Fiction
- Amina Lolita Gautier
- Cezanne Cardona
- Dahlma Llanos-Figueroa
- Francisco Font Acevedo
- Juanluís Ramos
- Luis Negrón
- Manolo Núñez Negrón
- Sergio Gutiérrez
Creative Nonfiction
- Mercy Romero
- Vanessa Mártir
- Xavier Valcárcel
- Yara Liceaga Rojas
Poetry
- Amanda Hernández
- Carmen R. Marín
- Francisco Félix
- Jonatan María Reyes
- María Teresa Fernández Rosario a.k.a. Mariposa
- Martín Espada
- Mónica A. Jiménez
Children’s Literature
- Mrinali Álvarez Astacio
The partnership between the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and Flamboyan Foundation's Arts Fund will continue with the selection of the next class of Letras Boricuas Fellows in 2022, for which applications will be available in spring 2022. Participating fellows will also be hosted for a gathering in San Juan, Puerto Rico tentatively scheduled for April 2023.
